College Graduates Grapple with India’s Tough Job Market

Rapid Summary

• Tyler Johnson, a 2025 graduate from the University of Delaware, is facing unemployment and uncertainty despite pursuing a communications degree and gaining experience through internships.
• The job market for new college graduates in 2025 has become especially challenging due to tariffs, hiring freezes in federal government jobs, automation by artificial intelligence (AI), and economic shifts.
• Hiring plans by employers dropped significantly-from an initially projected 7.3% increase to just 0.6% increase for the class of 2025 compared to the previous year’s graduates, according to data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
• Unemployment among recent grads stands at approximately 6%, higher than the overall rate of 4.2%, marking an unusual trend not seen as 1980 (Oxford Economics). Underemployment for grads rose to a notable rate of 41.2%.
• AI advancements are impacting white-collar entry-level roles, with concerns that half such jobs may vanish within five years-a prediction made by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei during an interview with Axios.
• Career advisors recommend new graduates focus on adaptability through networking, résumé tailoring, maintaining versatility geographically or career-wise, enhancing their online presence (LinkedIn), and leveraging internships or skills learned during college.

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Indian Opinion Analysis

The increasing difficulty faced by fresh graduates entering the workforce amid economic uncertainty highlights structural challenges relevant globally but interconnected with India’s own evolving labor markets. While automation via artificial intelligence impacts entry-level positions abroad-for example in America-it may signal similar disruptions soon within India’s burgeoning sectors like IT services or business process outsourcing (BPOs), which historically rely heavily on entry-level talent pools.India’s parallel concern remains whether educational institutions can keep pace with industry demands-a sentiment echoed in this report about U.S institutions struggling similarly against mismatched graduation skillsets-or-market dynamics too meanwhile govt agencies tackling broader question behalf India’s Youth policymakers likely draw valuable lessons ongoing AI dangers reshaping trends